Chapter 90

Lin Jilu followed Lu Xiaoding from a distance, watching her carry the tripod up the mountain, and sneered. She definitely had a problem; she was already suspicious, yet she dared to come out alone. As long as he caught her in the act, he could use it to exchange for a pill formula.

He concealed his presence, and Lu Xiaoding had no idea that someone was following her as she continued up the mountain. As she turned a corner and disappeared into a dense forest, Lin Jilu confidently used his divine sense to scan the area but found nothing.

He was instantly shocked, as she had vanished without a trace.

He rushed to where Lu Xiaoding had disappeared, but found no one. He couldn't help but curse, "She was discovered, it seems this girl isn't simple. Her escape technique is so good that even my divine sense can't detect her."

Feeling cheated again, he was filled with anger. He leaped into the air to survey the situation below. Suddenly, a powerful pressure descended from the sky, overwhelming him due to the vast difference in cultivation. He fell directly from the sky.

"What is this?" The pressure was even stronger than that of a Core Formation cultivator, making him think of a Spirit Transformation cultivator. Every time he encountered those old monsters in the sect, he felt the same way. The Tianling Sect actually harbored such dangerous figures.

Thinking of this, Lin Jilu suddenly used a secret escape technique, instantly disappearing from the mountain and heading directly to the place where the three Core Formation cultivators of the Ming Sect were located. As long as he could escape there, the three Core Formation cultivators would be enough to hold off for a while. However, he couldn't understand why there would be a Spirit Transformation cultivator here.

Lu Xiaoding had no idea he had fled in panic. She just wandered through the forest, arriving at the place where she had parted ways with Zhiling. She looked up at the sky, but saw no birds, as they had all been scared away by the fighting.

So she sat on the edge of the cliff, opened the tripod lid slightly, and threw in a few wild fruits she had picked on the way. She quickly closed the lid. She didn't know what Lincai Zhi ate, but it might be meat. There were no animals on the way, so she could only let it eat wild fruits.

"Finally, I can't wait any longer, hurry up and jump down," Zhiling's voice suddenly came from below the cliff.

Lu Xiaoding looked down and saw that she had flown here at some point, with many branches stuck in her beautiful wings, covering most of them.

"It was hard to find the egg, which was hidden in a very secluded place. I barely managed to get it back," she sighed.

Zhiling said very unhappily, "A Core Formation cultivator was following you. After you entered the forest, he couldn't detect you with his divine sense, so he flew up to look. But you didn't even notice. If I hadn't used my pressure to scare him away outside the Spirit Protection Array, he would have followed you. Unfortunately, the array's power is only half, otherwise, he would have been injured and unable to return to report."

There was actually such an incident. Lu Xiaoding looked back, thinking it must have been someone from the Ming Sect or the Xuwu Sect. These people were always like ghosts, which was quite annoying.

"You catch me, I'm coming out." It was better to leave first to avoid any trouble if someone followed. Lu Xiaoding checked the tripod lid again, making sure there wasn't even a crack, or the Spirit Protection Array would detect the bird inside and immediately counterattack.

After carefully checking, she carried the tripod and jumped off the cliff, emerging from the Spirit Protection Array and falling into the air. Zhiling flew over, grabbed her, and took her away from the Tianling Sect, heading for the uninhabited deep mountains.

In broad daylight, she didn't return to her rented house but chose a very steep mountain with cliffs on all sides. She put Lu Xiaoding down and quickly asked, "How is the egg? Is it okay?"

Lu Xiaoding said a bit embarrassedly, "It hatched."

"What? Who did it see first?" Zhiling was shocked. If it had already hatched, taking it back would definitely mean its death.

"No one, not a single living person. When I found it, it was still an egg, but it was about to hatch. I put it in the tripod and covered it. It hatched by itself inside, and I didn't let anyone see it or let it see any living thing," Lu Xiaoding quickly explained, seeing how scared she was.

Zhiling sighed in relief, "Don't scare me like that. Don't show yourself until I've made contact with it."

"Okay." Lu Xiaoding thought this bird was really troublesome, very delicate, and too unfamiliar. How could it see someone once and consider them its own kind? Don't they look different?

She leaned against the tripod and let Zhiling open the lid herself. Then she heard the lid open, and the sound of the bird chirping.

After a while, Zhiling said, "It's done, you can turn around now."

Lu Xiaoding stood up and turned around, seeing Zhiling holding a bird about the size of a chicken, covered in gray feathers, with small eyes looking at her without any hint of the seven colors.

She said a bit disappointedly, "Is this really your clan's bird? It can't be someone else's egg, are you here to steal eggs?"

"When they are young, they all look like this. The feathers will become beautiful as they grow. And it's male, its feathers will be even more splendid in the future," Zhiling said, stroking its feathers with a smile.

"Male? It will run away when it grows up." Lu Xiaoding stared at it carefully, wondering how to tell it was male. It didn't have a crest or colorful feathers yet, making it hard to distinguish.

Zhiling sighed, "We have to arrange for it to find a mate before it leaves. This way, the female can be impregnated before it leaves, otherwise, it will be hard to find another male."

"Being arranged for marriage at such a young age, how pitiful. There are no young girls in your clan, are you going to marry it?" Lu Xiaoding looked at her skeptically, thinking it was quite ruthless for an old bird to marry a young one.

Zhiling blushed and scolded, "Who said it was me? There is a girl in the clan, only a few decades older than it, who hasn't reached adulthood yet. By the time it grows up, she will be about the same age."

"A few decades old and not an adult? Humans of my age are already getting married. You grow so slowly," Lu Xiaoding said in surprise.

What are you talking about? You're not human, Zhiling glanced at her, "Female cultivators who live for hundreds of years without getting married are common. How can you compare this to ordinary people? Besides, you're not human, so you will live like this forever. Spirit Treasures don't age."

"That's true, for Spirit Treasures, there's only birth and death, no such thing as adulthood." Lu Xiaoding thought it made sense. It was convenient, otherwise, she would have to go looking for a male bird, which would be very troublesome and frustrating.

Zhiling held the bird and smiled, "I have to return to my clan. Thank you for your help, or I would have been chased by cultivators everywhere. Dealing with a Spirit Treasure is easy; you always keep your word."

"Don't be so polite, just remember to give me the arm." Thanks are not necessary; giving me the divine soul is the main thing.

"You guy..." Zhiling laughed speechlessly, thinking he was quite straightforward, "I naturally keep my word, here it is." She extended her hand, and a seven-colored light slowly condensed in her palm, forming a walnut-sized light ball.

Lu Xiaoding said disdainfully, "This is too little, not even as big as a palm. Is this all you have for an arm?"

Since you don't even know this, Zhiling had to explain, "I have to extract the divine soul separately; I can't just throw it around, or it will dissipate into the world. This is my divine soul wrapped in spiritual energy, which prevents it from dissipating and makes it easy for you to take."

"So it's concentrated. I thought you were being stingy with the amount." Lu Xiaoding laughed and took it, not swallowing it immediately but throwing it into the tripod.

"I'm leaving. I don't know if the cultivator who escaped will call others to attack me, so it's better to leave the place where humans are early." Zhiling looked worriedly at the direction of the Tianling Sect and decided to leave immediately.

Places with many humans are very dangerous, especially with a young bird. It's better to leave early. Lu Xiaoding agreed; the Ming Sect and the Xuwu Sect were not good people, and they shouldn't be discovered.

They said goodbye to each other, and Lu Xiaoding watched as Zhiling transformed into her true form, not just spreading her wings but turning her entire body into a seven-zhang-long bird. Her body was covered in feathers that shimmered with seven colors, much more beautiful than the artificial light Lin Jilu had. This was natural.

She held the small bird in her beak, flapped her wings, and flew into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.

After she left, Lu Xiaoding checked the tripod, afraid the bird had defecated inside. She carefully examined it but found no bird droppings, only a piece of eggshell the size of an egg and the wild fruits she had thrown in, which hadn't been eaten.

"Hey, what's this?" She picked it up curiously. The seven-colored eggshell was particularly beautiful in the sunlight, with the seven colors flowing continuously. Some birds eat their eggshells after hatching, absorbing the strength within, which not only provides temporary fullness but also increases their chances of survival.

When she saw no eggshell in the tripod earlier, Lu Xiaoding thought it had all been eaten, but it turned out it had left a piece. It seemed this bird was quite careless, not even finishing its eggshell.

"It's so small, I wonder what use it has, but it looks nice. I'll wear it as a waist ornament." She thought for a moment and decided to hang it as a decoration, so people wouldn't say she didn't look like a girl and never dressed up. As long as she wore this, no one would say anything about her anymore.

Then she looked up at the direction of the Tianling Sect, scratched her head, and said helplessly, "This is too far. Walking back will definitely get me scolded. When I get back, I'll ask my senior sister to buy me a flying magical tool powered by spirit stones."

Lu Xiaoding had a good plan, but unfortunately, Lu Yaohang was most afraid of her running out and getting killed, which would mean her own death. There was no way she would buy a flying magical tool for her.

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